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A Few Quick Updates

If you take a look at our Music page, you will find several new songs created by Andy’s band As Long As Yellow.  He spent much of his summer break working on writing songs, recording them with Chris and Matt, and mixing and mastering them for far more hours than he’d probably care to admit.  Some days he’d go down to the basement at 10am and when I visited him at the end of my workday, he hadn’t moved and was still intent on working more.  All his hard work made some really cool songs, I think, so take a listen to all the hard work he put in.

Plus, we have a few more pictures of Dylan after a short family vacation to Palm Springs. Enjoy!

Mommy and Dylan

Daddy and Dylan

the cool bandit

The laughing bandit

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The Busiest Weekend We’ve Had in a Very Long Time
Dexter from the Offspring

Dexter from the Offspring

The weekend passed in a blur for us.  We were home only long enough to sleep a few hours and shower/change clothes.  Typically, we lead a reasonably quiet existence, spending an occasional evening with friends.  Somehow, this last weekend, tons of people were in town and wanted to hang out, and we couldn’t bring ourselves to say “no.”  Here’s a very exhausting play-by-play of how the weekend worked out.

Thursday – Bored with our usual routine, Andy and I headed out to the Tin Roof 2 – a live music bar in Cool Springs.  It was fine, the guy singing wasn’t as good as Andy’s band, but it was okay by Nashville standards.  Even though we weren’t out past midnight, it was probably not the best idea to go out Thursday knowing what the weekend would hold.

Friday – I used my lunch break to go to lunch with Andy, my best friend Erin and her fiance Taylor, both of whom just graduated law school.  Since Erin and Taylor live in Knoxville, we don’t see them as often as I’d like, so anytime they’re in town we always find time to hang out.  After finishing my workday, we headed downtown to the Merrell Crawfish Boil with our friend Matt to hear Flyleaf and Offspring in concert.  The concert was fantastic, but it had been so long since I’d been to one that I forgot all the things I hate about concerts.  I can’t stand the smoking, the drunk people, the smell of poorly disguised marijuana, and the body odor that comes from a lot of overweight, sweaty drunk people jumping around.  Nevertheless, Flyleaf was really good and Offspring was amazing.  They did a fantastic job and played all the songs we hoped they’d play.  We eventually made it to bed by about 1:30.

Saturday – We were up relatively early to get ready for our friend Alana’s graduation party.  She just graduated from Belmont and Andy’s known her family his entire life so we spent a good chunk of the afternoon hanging out with all the familiar faces at the party.  Once we left the party, we headed to the Cheesecake Factory to meet up with our friend Jeff (who was in town from Knoxville) for dinner.  After some more time hanging out, we got ready to go downtown to meet up with Andy’s friend Rishab, his girlfriend, and a couple of his friends.  We went to Dan McGuinness on Demonbreun and had a few drinks and attempted to make small talk despite the din of loud music and the thick, billowing clouds of cigarette smoke.  We eventually made it home at about 2:30.

Andy and Matt in downtown Nashville

Andy and Matt in downtown Nashville

Sunday – Despite my best attempts to sleep in, I was unable to sleep for very long.  Our friend Matt came down to the house in the morning to work on the melody for a song that Andy and I had written together.  Together, the three of us took a few words on a page and turned it into a song.  Once Matt left, we headed to dinner with Jeff one last time before he went back to Knoxville. By Sunday evening we were exhausted and sat on the couch for a couple hours before giving up and just going to bed.

Now the work week is upon me again and at the end of the week we leave for Europe.  I guess I have to stick by the old adage “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” because I’m pretty behind in getting my beauty sleep.  We’ll be packing for Europe and getting ready to go over the next few days, but I hope to get some of the concert pictures posted soon.

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The Last Several Days

We’ve had a busy and eventful (though not always exciting) last ten days or so, but I’ve been completely devoid of time to update.  So here’s a rough outline of what’s been going on.

Vegas trip – I was in Vegas for about five days, but it was probably the least exciting Vegas trip you could imagine (no offense, Mom and Dad).  No gambling, no clubs, no shows, no casinos, no restaurants, no shopping.  I spent the week working and staying at my parents’ house.  It was relaxing in that I got to spend time with my parents, never had to do any dishes, and was able to just work, eat, go running, and hang out, but still.  That’s definitely the first time I’ve been to Vegas and I didn’t do anything typically “Vegas.”

Andy’s ski trip – He was in Colorado with his dad, skiing at Arapahoe Basin for a few days.  Most people who hear this wonder how he could go skiing in mid-May, but the elevation was so high, the skiing was still very good.  He ate lots of game, enjoyed the pool/spa facilities at his hotel, and skied from morning till evening.  It was the first time we had been separated for more than a day or two since we got married and, yes, we survived.

Music – Now that Andy’s finished the Step 1 and is waiting on his scores, he literally has nothing to do.  It’s a great feeling for him because that hasn’t been the case in a very long time.  He and his other band members have had time to record new music that is so much better than anything they’ve ever done before.  He’s very proud of the new songs, the original and the covers, and in the next few weeks there will be more to come.  Andy and I have been collaborating on a lot of songs, with me writing lyrics and Andy writing the melody, so be on the watch for new music.

FUN! – We’ve seen movies, gone to new restaurants, caught up with old friends, and made many more plans for the next few days and weeks (Offspring concert Friday!).  We missed so much of this when we were in Dominica, and even when we were in Miami, so it’s nice to be able to grab coffee with friends, see a movie (Star Trek was SO good!), record music with the band (or in my case, watch them record music), and then go for dinner and drinks with other friends downtown.  We feel like every minute of our time is filled with friends and fun and it’s so nice after feeling isolated for a long time.

Europe – We leave for Europe in ten days so I’ve been going through my guidebooks and language books to prepare.  We’re hitting Paris, Frankfurt, Prague, and a couple other areas in the Czech Republic for about 11 days.  We’re very excited – I haven’t been to Europe since my last trip to London and Paris about nine years ago.  Andy went about four years ago, but we’ve never gone together.  He’s never been to Paris and I’ve never been to the Czech Republic, so it will be a wonderful experience for us to share together.

As you can see, there’s plenty to do in the few weeks we have left in Nashville and I’ll do my best to keep the blog updated with pictures and stories.

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Updates

First and foremost, there’s new music up on our music page.  Andy finally uploaded some songs he worked on over the break.  They’re both some of the best work he’s worked on – cover songs of Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time” and Oasis’ “Wonderwall.”  It’s good stuff.  Once he takes the Step 1, expect loads more music to appear when he finally gets some downtime.

Also, we’re just three and a half weeks from moving back home sweet home to Nashville, so I’ve started thinking about what we’ll miss about Miami.  I did this with Dominica, but honestly there isn’t much we miss about it (actually, I can’t think of anything except some of the people that we miss), but we’ve enjoyed our brief stay in Miami much, much more.  We love how convenient our building is to restaurants, shopping, and all our daily essentials – our neighborhood is filled with character.  We love being able to walk a block or two to sit and have a great meal, a glass of wine, and some gelato and then go for a walk after dinner; it’s a far cry from sitting at home watching TV endlessly like we did in Dominica or worrying about machete-wielding invaders.  I love, love, love having a gym in the building.  I’ve been working out five or six days a week, running, lifting weights, and feeling better than ever; we’ll see how I fare this summer when there isn’t a gym in the building anymore.  There’s also a very affordable and very good nail salon in the building, so I’ve been able to get manicures and pedicures each month and all I have to do is take the elevator downstairs.  I always feel very safe in the neighborhood and even more safe in the building.  The pool area is flawless.  Frankly, I just love our building more than anything – the convenience is fantastic.  We miss our friends and Miami traffic sucks and it’s kind of expensive here, but living here has been a great experience that we won’t soon forget.  Nashville – get ready, we’ll be back on Easter Sunday!

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